


the breathtaking wild

by summoner_yuna_of_besaid



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Gen, Mute Link, Sign Language, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 21:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17650607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summoner_yuna_of_besaid/pseuds/summoner_yuna_of_besaid
Summary: Though some flowers fade with the withering, others lie in wait.  Until springtime showers and summer rays return, and the very same flower which bloomed the year before returns.  A perennial triumph.One must wonder how life could cheat death, without returning from the experience a changed, unrecognizable thing.---A story that deals with Link's thoughts and feelings after returning to life, and handling the Divine Beast quest in Zora territory.





	the breathtaking wild

Bright.Bright, loud – a cacophany.Drums beating in his head, to the pounding of his awakening heart.And a voice.

_Wake up, Link._

It does not occur to him to wonder who Link is.Perhaps he knows.Perhaps he simply cannot wonder over the overwhelming rebirth, his second coming to the world.

Light.Piercing through the bitter darkness, forcing him to cover his eyes or be blinded by it.

_Link... You are our light._

Shapes begin appearing in the flood of white light, and Link takes his first step out of the darkness.

 

* * *

 

It is the nature of the world to be cycical.

Each year, flowers bloom and grow in the meadows of Hyrule; beneath the fanning limbs of ever taller trees, fed by the light glistening through the leaves.Dandelions, daffodils, lilies, wildflowers.Roses behind castle walls.Ivy climbing over the crumbling structures of lost ages.Life, finding a way.

Each year, the growing things of the world thrive in their time, and each year it always comes to an end.The wind takes on a bitter chill.The sun slips away faster, the days grow shorter, and when the air takes on that subtle crisp edge, it is clear winter has come.And with that coming the greenery of Hyrule fades and withers, falling into slumber. Flowers die, until the next year when new flowers are born, in new groves and fields, beneath trees with fresh leaves.

And yet...

Beneath the earth, in the frozen ground, the seeds of the past remain.

For though some flowers fade with the withering, others lie in wait.They do not pass on – they rest.Until those springtime showers and summer rays return, and with them, the very same flower which bloomed the year before, in the very same spot.A perennial triumph.

How can it be that such a little thing can overcome so great and destructive a force?That the chills that steal life from so much else cannot reach these little seeds, year after year?And is the flower that returns the following spring truly the same as the one which withered the year before?

One must wonder how life could defeat winter, could cheat death, without returning from the experience a changed, unrecognizable thing.

 

* * *

 

People won't stop staring at his face.

It's not his fault what he looks like.It's just his face.Mostly unremarkable save for the fact that it is so new – to him, at least. To these people, he's a ghost come back to life, and not a person he passes doesn't react in some way.Gasps, screams, cheers, quiet awe.Everyone over a certain age at least vaguely recognizes his description, if not his actual face. 

It's annoying.

Bad enough that Link doesn't even know himself – that all these various strangers seem to know him better than he does is obnoxious.

It should be strange, this whole scenario.Perhaps if he sat and thought on it, it would seem outlandish to him, but there's been too much going on to allow for brooding.The blanks in his memory exist only in his personal life.Fighting, surviving, horseback riding, camping – all the techniques and tools he needs to fight Ganon are still in there, accessible.So he focuses on these, and on the mission, and tries not to think about the fact that he doesn't remember his childhood, where he came from, who his family was, or... anything.

He manages most days.

The staring gets better once he starts wearing the mask.The Stealth uniform does a great deal to enhance his ability to move around unseen, and a large part of that is the anonymity.No more stares, no more shock and awe.Now, if someone stares, its because he is a mystery, an enigma, a masked man in a quiet village.Those, at least, he can put up with.

It offers him a bit of comfort, hiding this way.There's so much to do, to be responsible for.Facing the world on top of that, open and available... its nauseating.So he withdraws.Covers his face.Hides in silence and shadows.For now, honing his skills and stopping Ganon are most important.Working on his memories and people skills can wait.

 

* * *

 

The first few weeks after waking from his coma, Link remains in the central areas of Hyrule, bouncing around from Kakariko to Hateno, locating shrines and building his arsenal.He finds that not only does he prefer the stealthier forms of combat, he has a knack for the bow more than any other weapon.It feels... natural. 

He knows that, before, he was a swordsman, that the Sword that Seals the Darkness chose him, and he was meant to use it to defeat Ganon...Now, he avoids them.He'll fight with pikes, staves, spears, and the like if he must, but Link all but refuses to carry a blade.Better to fight from a distance, anyway.

He's finding a new style, a new sense of self, and for the most part does no mourn whatever it was he lost in the past.Detachment is an unhealthy form of coping, but he wields it like a weapon, drifting away from anything that triggers the thought of his unknown past and past relations. 

Hiding.In the shadows, behind the mask, from his memories.There's a voice calling him a coward in his head, but he's pretty detached from that, too.

 

* * *

 

 

Sure, there's a lot of stress.Plenty of problems.Tons of monsters that need killing.And most days, when Link finally settles by the fire, the aches and pains strike down to his bones and press against his lungs until it's almost too much to breathe.

But then... there's the silence.The utter hush in the far wilderness, as the sun rises over a endless expanse of snow and stone.There's the rush in his ears as the ground races towards him only for Link to spring the glider at the last moment, though the landing still sends harsh shocks through his legs.The taste of spring water from a hidden source in a mountainside no one has seen for centuries.The secrets, the wonders, the terrors, the beauty. 

This world is marvelous.And whether he's hunting for shrines or enemies, when Link's out there on his own, for moment... it is all his.And there is no Ganon, no sword, no responsibilities to remind him of the lost past and his unknown failures, or the dread of the battles of the future.

Just Link... and the breathtaking wild.

 

* * *

 

 

Eventually, Link realizes it's time to press further into the continent.He can't ignore the peril forever, and truthfully, he's somewhat excited at the idea of seeing more of what's out there.The small region he's called home these last few weeks has had enough wonders for a lifetime, and he's barely touched most of the Hyrule map. 

The closest region with a Divine Beast is Zora's Domain, and so that is where he begins.The trek is long and wet, and oddly enough comes with a plethora of strangers looking for him.

“Are you a Hylian?”

It's not the first Zora to ask, nor will it be the last.Link avoids sighing, glad that the mask hides his frown.He's deep in the Lanayru Wetlands, and every few feet another Zora pops out of the water, asking if he'll come save their people.

It was the general plan anyway, not that he has any way of telling them that.

He tries miming to the Zora for a minute, who apparently decides that means he's an idiot, and swims away with a huff.Link's shoulders drop.Not like it matters, but still... its annoying that without words no one will take him seriously.He wants to help.He shouldn't need a voice to do it.

_Whatever_.He turns his gaze back to the map, plotting out the course for Inigo Bridge.That'll take him out of the Wetlands and officially into Zora territory.Apparently he made the right choice coming this way first, if the Domain is in this much trouble. 

Link starts walking, wondering what it could be that Zora need a Hylian for.He makes it all the way to the Bridge without seeing another Zora... and there ends his luck.

“Hey!You down there!”

The man bristles.With another sigh, he turns his gaze upward, trying to spy the speaker.

“Young one!Above you!”

That annoys him more.A pink flush comes over his cheeks and he just barely manages to avoid tensing.The words aren't meant to be demeaning, he's sure, but he can't help being a little embarrassed.

Finally, he catches sight of the man.Another Zora, bright red, with a smile as sharp as his shark like teeth. Still, he seems kind enough.Too bad he'll probably ignore Link like all the others. 

The stranger leaps down from his precipice overhead, and Link is hit with the sudden realization that this Zora is nothing like the others.For one, he's twice as huge.Broad and thick shouldered, with an enormous, muscular torso, standing at least ten feet tall if not more.Yet there's something disarming, even calming in his manner.Link immediately recognizes the body language and vocal choices the man makes as a conscious choice by the Zora himself, to put others at ease. 

“I was hoping we'd have a moment to talk.”

Link frowns.Talk.Of course.Still, he steels himself.Maybe this one will be different.He decides to give signing a try; a communications system he found in the Sheikah Slate, which was apparently designed for various situations in which speech was not optimal.

He doubts the Zora will understand, or do anything other than dismiss him as an idiot... still, he has to try.

_Hello_ , he starts.Immediately his heart starts pounding.He's never tried this with someone else. _My name is Link._ This is so stupid.There's no way this is going to work.

“Link.That's a strong name!”The Zora grins again.“I am Sidon, Prince of the Zora.”

Link stares.His hands shake midair, and for a moment his brain forgets all the sign language he knows, forgets everything related to conversation, it all dies a sudden embarrassed death.

_I actually talked to someone!_

“Are you alright?”

Link manages to nod, and after a moment, gets his brain back on track.They talk a moment more, and Sidon explains his situation and his people's dire need for a Hylian hero.Link gladly agrees to help, and Sidon is more than thrilled.The conversation ends, and the Prince leaps into the river, taking off for his homeland, and Link watches with a strange warmth in his heart.

Recognition.Acknowledgement.Faith.It's been a while since anyone gave him anything like it.

 

* * *

 

 

He fights his way up a mountain in the rain, and arrives in a town full of old fogeys that hate him, where an imminent threat has put everyone in the region in danger, learns that he forgot about a Zora Princess that loved him who is dead because of him, then climbs another mountain in the rain, stole some arrows, got his ass kicked by a pissed off centaur, and fell back down the mountain.

0/10, would not do again.

Dragging his exhausted carcass out of the mud and debris, Link manages to stand again.The quest isn't over.Ruta is still flooding the area, and he has to use the arrows he's taken to stop it.Then, he'll have to go inside, and take it back from Ganon, somehow.Everyone seems to think he's the only one who can do it, that he'll somehow find a way and he sure as hell hopes they're right.

He has no idea what he's doing.

Trudging towards the dam, Link feels lower than he has in a long time.He doesn't want to think about his past, his memories.He wants to exist free of everything.To just be a weapon, pointed at Ganon, with no ties to anyone or feelings of any kind.It would be so much easier...

The image of the Princess flashes in his mind.He wonders how she died.If he was there.If he could have stopped it. 

It feels selfish now, this desire to be allowed to forget, to accept that the past is lost – because apparently these people are part of it, these heroes who died while he's still here.Mipha was his friend, someone that loved him, and she's just... gone from his heart.There's an empty space inside where his bond with her should be, and instead of trying to recover or rebuild it, he's been shoving it aside and ignoring the ache.

Link's mind goes blank.He moves, he fights his way to the dam.It's time to stop thinking, for now.

 

* * *

 

 

When he finally manages to drag himself to the Prince's side, he suddenly feels immensely better.Sidon turns and grins, seeing the arrows in his grip, goes on and on about how he believed in Link and knew he wouldn't let them down, and somehow that faith gives him a little more strength.He believes in Sidon, and Sidon believes in him, and that will have to be enough.

Ruta is waiting.

When it's all over, he barely makes it to the bank of the resevoir.The red light erupts overhead and for a moment he's certain something's gone wrong, it's all gone to shit, and his heart pounds in his throat as he rushes to stand.Dizziness threatens to knock him over, but he manages to see the light fly overhead, and strike at Ganon.

Everything's... okay.For now, everything's okay.Glancing overhead, Link sees the clouds parting, and thinks that perhaps he hears a familiar voice speaking to him, laughing in his ear.Mipha is with him.The rains have finally stopped.The Princess is laughing, and Link can't help laughing with her.

 

* * *

 

All in all he feels pretty good when he gets back down the mountain.The moment he enters Zora's Domain he's all but hauled onto the high shoulders of the Zora people, and carried through the main bridge to the King's Chambers.Everyone's cheering and thanking him, the King gives a speech of appreciation for both Link and Sidon's efforts, and the look on the Prince's face at his father's approval makes Link smile brightest of all.

It's a good day.They've won, somehow, they've found a victory in the darkness, and that makes all the sweat and pain worth it a thousandfold.And when Sidon kneels to his level and so fervently and genuinely thanks him and shakes his hand, Link feels pride and joy swelling inside him.

Maybe it's okay, to not remember everything.To find new memories to make.To allow himself to care.If this is what it feels like, it might not be so bad.


End file.
